Course Description
Patterns of public and interpersonal communication among and between ethnic groups, especially North American minority cultures, strategies for fostering group identity, difficulties in inter-group communication, and skills for improving the quality of those interactions.
Athena Title
CULTL DIVRS IN COMM
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in SPCM 4800 or SPCM 1800
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students will be aware of the range of variations among different world cultures and U.S. co-cultures that are relevant for successful inter-cultural communication. Students will be able to recognize culturally inappropriate communication strategies and patterns and to recommend more culturally appropriate communication strategies for interacting with various U.S. co-cultures and some major world cultures. Students will have a basic idea of how the media and legal frameworks shape cultural identities. 1. Students will be able to identify the dimensions of cultural variation in cultural values. 2. Students will be able to recognize how variant cultural values manifest in communication practices. 3. Students will be able to recognize communication practices that are inappropriate with regard to dimensions of cultural values and recommend more appropriate alternatives. 4. Students will recognize the relationship between their cultural identities and media. 5. Students will recognize the relationship between national and international legal frameworks and their cultural identities.
Topical Outline
1) Dimensions of Cultural Variation in Relationships: (Hofstede: Individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, etc.) 2) Dimensions of Cultural Variation in Qualities of Being: (Perceptions of Time, Space, and Human Relationships to Nature) 3) Dimensions of Cultural Variation in Communication Practices: (High context/low context, direct/indirect, formal/informal, decision making and conflict, nonverbal variations) 4) Dimensions of Cultural Variation in Public Speech: (e.g., models of leadership, assumptions of "free speech," role of in-group/out-group identification, sovereignty) 5) Stages of Intercultural Competence:(e.g., Bennett's 6 "Stages of Change" model) 6) Legal Issues in Intercultural Communication: (EEOC Issues, ADA, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, etc.) 7) Culture & Identity Formation: (e.g., national, gender, race, class, sexuality identities formation) 8) Culture Diversity and Media: (e.g., mass media and socialization; structural constraints and agency)
Syllabus